Aw.

So I just convinced myself that.

Um, best book I've read on holiday.

I remember going to, um, France as a kid and, uh, France obviously has this incredible history and lineage of, of comics.

Like, they, they really, um, appreciate it a lot more than, than other countries.

And I remember going into a shop and buying a book called Leonardo, and it was a, I think it was quite a popular long-running comic strip about Leonardo da Vinci, just, but it was like the comic antics of Leonardo da Vinci and all his inventions going wrong and what have you.

And I read that book cover to cover on that holiday, like over and over and over and over again.

So what's coming for the back six months of this year?

I

wake up the next morning.

She's not in bed.

And I'm like, where is she? I get out of bed.

I walk out and she's on the balcony.

Yeah.

And she's on the phone.

i

do.

So my background was running large, basically IT projects and programs for organizations, which I did for many years.

And I was good at it, but I sensed that there was something else for me.

And I went on like a personal development weekend one weekend, and I saw this trainer at the front of the room working with groups, coaching people, that sort of thing.

I was like, that's what I want to do.

And I was terrified of public speaking.

So I was like, well, that's a...

Maybe sort of a client that you've worked with and how it is that you've implemented that.

Um, you're so prolific, aren't you? Do you think you're prolific? I mean, um, what's the volume of stuff that you're knocking out? Because i- if people are not aware, it's not just we're focusing on the books today, but the Phoenix Comics really is where the, a lot of your artwork appears, and they're subscription comics that come out weekly, aren't they?

Yeah.

The, so the Phoenix is like a weekly comic, uh, for children, and it's been going, uh, more than 10 years.

I think it started in 2012 or some- something like that.

And to last that long in this climate and to just keep plugging away and saying, "No, children love comics.

Here are comics.

Here are amazing comics," um, is an incredible achievement.

Yeah

Ooh

... wildlife through my photography, and that my passion may shine through through my photography, as I hope if they see my passion for it and how much I love it, they may have in...

I may inspire them to have a passion for it too, through my images, by showing people n- the new world of insects that you may not be able to see with the naked eye, or s- show people wildlife they may not be able to see, as they may not be able-

Yes.

And he says in his book that cats-They adapt our ways, but they don't adopt our ways, and I feel that that is an amazing line, um, because it- they do.

With most wildlife, it ha- they adapt, but they, our ways, but they don't adopt our ways because they, they adapt to live around us, live with us, but they don't adopt our ways to sort of like live in a house and be a pet.

They, they adapt in the wild, and they find new strategies, if that's hunting or hibernation or something like that.

It's really interesting, and I feel that that's a, a great [laughs] line that he said, and it goes for all wildlife.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

We caught up with him after one of his events.

Uh, I am still buzzing about children's comics, about the kids that were in the audi- the kids in the audience have incredible, ridiculous, rude suggestions for things for me to draw, and then we all draw them together for, like, an hour, and everyone's cheering and shouting, and we're all arguing.

And then by the end, we've all made an incredible comic, and it's, um, it's such a buzz.

I mean, it's, it's incredible.

And it's really moving when you, when you walk away from it and you think, "All these kids have had such fun, and they've been making comics like I was when I was a kid." So yeah, it's, it's lovely.

I'm, I'm over the moon about all of it.

This f- certainly feels like the biggest Phoenix Fest we've done.